lot of opportunities, and if you work at it, if you apply yourself, you can actually achieve whatever you want to achieve. >> reporter: she studied bio chemistry at umass, got her medical dreegree in europe and became a u.s. citizen. >> i can dare to believe, dare to dream, dare to disagree and dare to be whatever i want to be. >> reporter: do you still believe that? >> yes. >> reporter: mary is the person we wish we were more like, undeterred even by the biggest obstacles. >> there are challenges we have to face and overcome. it might be losing a limb for me, it might be something else for someone else. >> reporter: and you feel like what happened to you is no different from any other challenge any of the rest of us face on any given day? >> yeah, that's what i feel. >> reporter: positive but not pollyanna-ish. maybe you could call it old-fashioned american optimism.